


An Interude: Holidays and Heritage

by Lt_Cmdr_Scribbler



Series: Doctor Tenor; Soldier Spy [4]
Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Christmas Party, Developing Relationship, F/M, Pre-Relationship, Self-Indulgent, Self-Reflection, schmoopy fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 16:56:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13127766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lt_Cmdr_Scribbler/pseuds/Lt_Cmdr_Scribbler
Summary: As usual, it started out as almost completely the fault of Lieutenant Thomas Eugene Paris. In hindsight, with twitching antennae and a hangover in the morning, Tyvaa would think perhaps it wasn’t entirely his fault.-When Tom confronts her with an invitation to a Christmas party, Tyvaa contemplates what she really is, and what she really wants out of life, while seeking some advice from her closest friend.





	An Interude: Holidays and Heritage

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos to ThatAdriotGeek for pulling through on such short notice, and keeping me consistent. :)

As usual, it started out as almost completely the fault of Lieutenant Thomas Eugene Paris. In hindsight, with twitching antennae and a hangover in the morning, Tyvaa would think perhaps it wasn’t  _ entirely _  his fault.

Tyvaa had believed that she would never be ambushed by Tom Paris. As it happened, she was simply tempting fate. Just as she sat down with a warm plate of scrambled Ktarian eggs in the mess hall, she looked up to see a grinning helmsman sitting directly across from her. Tyvaa opened her mouth to say something, but immediately Tom began speaking rapid-fire.

“Okay, so I’ve been keeping track of the date since we left Earth,” he began, “And I’ve realised that Christmas is next week, so I’m planning a big bash at Sandrine’s, to lift the crew’s spirits.”

Tyvaa raised an eyebrow. “That’s pretty presumptuous,” she replied before taking a bite of egg. 

Tom waved away her concerns. “It’ll be as secular as a Ferengi casino ship, I promise. Wait, no, that’s a bad metaphor- nevermind. Are you coming, or are there Andorrian winter traditions you’d rather do by yourself?”

“It’s a little hard to have ‘winter’ holidays when the planet is a nearly-complete glacier,” she pointed out.

“Always winter, never Christmas,” Tom sighed. “Typical.”

Tyvaa didn’t know what he was talking about, so she didn’t acknowledge it with a response. “How’d you know that I knew what Christmas even is, anyway?”

Tom looked a little uncomfortable as he said, “Well, you went to the Francisco Academy on Earth, right? You probably picked it up there, because the Christmas parties at the 602 club can get a little wild.”

“The what club?” asked Tyvaa.

“You never went to the 602?” cried Tom. “Well, it was mostly a pilot's thing, so I guess you might not have gone, but really? Never even heard of it?”

“Nope.” Tyvaa made hard eye contact with Tom, the way she had seen Tuvok do in his most disapproving moods. “How did you figure out that I celebrated Christmas, Paris?”

Tom sighed, and lowered his voice slightly. “Okay, but don't kill me? I read your file, and I kind of... assumed. You’re half Human. I mean, not all Humans celebrate Christmas, but... I'm just digging myself into a hole, aren't I?"

"You are," agreed Tyvaa, her voice carefully controlled. "Why you do assume I'll kill you, Paris?"

"You don't like to talk about it," Tom said. "B’Elanna is the same way about being Klingon.”

“You know that she still can’t stand you, so I know you didn’t hear that from her,” countered Tyvaa, but she dropped eye contact with him and returned her focus to breakfast. “It’ll be Sandrine’s, so I don’t see why I  _ shouldn’t  _ be fine. I’ll let you know what I decide later about the party.”

“Sounds good. See you later, then.”

Tyvaa continued to eat her breakfast, hardly tasting the spice of Ktarian eggs. It was replicated anyway, so it tasted like cardboard, but nevertheless, the breakfast had lost some of its splendor. Getting up from the table, Tyvaa returned her plate to the replicator and made for Deck 5.

The Doctor wasn’t active when she entered Sickbay, so Tyvaa didn’t bother to activate him and simply laid down on one of the biobeds to think. Tyvaa hadn’t celebrated Christmas since she was a child, when Mom had strung fairy lights all through the halls and crowded Charan, Tyvaa, and Eten outside in brightly coloured sweaters for “Christmas card photos.” Mom usually refused to take the lights down for weeks afterward, and had laughed aloud when Tyvaa had asked once if she could wrap the lights around the posts on her bed. Christmas was always something that Tyvaa thought of as inherently Human, and while she knew now, after the Early Earth History classes at the Academy, that this wasn’t so, she was still hesitant about it. After all this time, was it right for her to embrace such a Human holiday?

It struck her then, why her feet had carried her all the way to Sickbay to think this over instead of retreating to her quarters. Her unconscious sought the advice of someone who might also be having this problem: the Doctor. Well, chances were that Tom hadn’t told him and wasn’t planning on it, but… Tom never said anything about plus-ones, did he?

“Computer, activate EMH,” requested Tyvaa. 

She sat up as he materialised, and smiled as he turned to her with his standard greeting: “Please state the nature of the medical emergency.” 

“I thought that the captain made that greeting optional when she put in your autonomy protocols,” Tyvaa said.

The Doctor’s eyebrow arched as he stiffly clasped his wrists behind his back. He drawled, “I don’t regularly get social calls, so excuse me for being prepared for an emergency.”

“Sure, Doc, sure.” For a moment, Tyvaa’s brain stalled.  _ Maybe I shouldn’t talk to him about this. Our interactions are mostly banter and job-related snark. You just don’t talk to a hologram about existential feelings, do you? _

Tyvaa took a deep breath and told herself,  _ Why not?, _ and took a chance on him. “You know how I’m half-Human?”

“Of course I do, I’m your doctor.”

**_Your_ ** _ doctor. Yes, please. _ That thought, that rebellious thought, gave Tyvaa shivers, but she pressed on with her intended point. “Tom Paris told me an Earth holiday is coming up, and asked if I would come to a party, exactly a week from today. I haven’t celebrated for years, but I… I miss it.”

The Doctor crossed his arms, and shrugged. “You’ve already been invited. There isn’t any reason that you won’t be welcomed.”

Tyvaa rolled her eyes and retorted, “It isn’t about being  _ welcomed, _ Doctor, it’s about whether or not it’s  _ right _ for me to be there.”

The Doctor paused for a moment, before he turned away from Tyvaa and picked up a PADD in an attempt to avoid her intent gaze.

“Why do you ask me these things?” he asked finally. “I’m only a hologram. I have even less experience being Human than you do.”

Tyvaa stood up and moved around the Doctor so that they were face-to-face. “Maybe… you could get some experience. At the party, I mean. It’s going to be held on the holodeck, so you’ll be able to come. You can participate in something Human, and I can figure out if I’m comfortable with…” 

“ _ Being _ Human,” the Doctor finished. He set the PADD down, having never even activated it in the first place, and drummed his hands on the medical console a few times before he nodded to himself. 

“Alright,” he agreed. “I’ll go. Should I ask Lieutenant Torres to add some more casual clothes to my program? I imagine that not many officers will show up wearing uniforms.”

Tyvaa shrugged. “I might. I don’t remember having a lot of casual clothes in my wardrobe,” she admitted. “I’ll have to transfer your program to the holodeck, so I’ll meet you there just after 2100 hours?”

“I’ll be waiting expectantly,” he replied. His tone was put-upon, sarcastic, but a faint smile played across his face, and Tyvaa couldn’t help but smile back. 

“Do you want me to deactivate you when I leave?” she asked. 

He waved a hand dismissively and picked up the PADD again. “I’m active now, so I might as well check up on a few things. I’ll see you during your next shift, Lieutenant.”

“Alright.” Tyvaa grinned, and her antennae inclined in his direction before she turned to leave. “Merry Christmas, Doctor.”

* * *

“Computer, activate Emergency Medical Hologram.”

Tyvaa spun an isolinear rod in her fingers as she watched the Doctor materialise. The fiddling was an outlet for her nervousness, but it felt less effective than usual. Her smile didn't feel as confident as she had meant it to be. “Hi, Doctor.”

“Good evening, Lieutenant,” he replied. He stood rigidly at attention, not meeting her gaze. It was somehow reassuring that he was just as nervous as she was. “I’m ready for the transfer.”

Tyvaa clicked her tongue, giving him a look. “No need to be so brusque, Doctor. Besides, I- I wanted to give you something, before we left,” she said, holding up the iso-rod.

The Doctor looked downright alarmed, which was a reaction that Tyvaa didn’t expect. “I researched Christmas customs,” he said, “I- I didn’t get you anything. I don’t deserve whatever gift it is you’re giving me, Lieutenant.”

One day, maybe, the Doctor’s lack of self-worth wouldn’t make her heart spasm. Tyvaa gestured to her dress uniform while she explained, “It’s almost more a present for me. It’s a customization attachment, to let you wear a dress uniform.”

The Doctor arched an eyebrow, sinking comfortably into his usual prickly attitude. “You’ve said it yourself, you’re terrible at holography and programing,” he observed, a faint narrowing of his dark eyes expressing his disbelief.

Tyvaa shrugged while she plugged the rod into the medical console. She admitted, “Ensign Kim helped. You can thank him at the party, if you like. Computer, activate EMH customization 1.”

The Doctor’s image shimmered for a moment, before the Doctor’s uniform changed to a knee-length tunic in the Science blue with a gold edged collar. The dimensions fit the Doctor very well, projecting the image of a firm chest and arms, and Tyvaa swallowed slightly.  _ Bless Ensign Kim, _ she thought.  _ Doc looks good like this _ . 

“The sleeves are longer than I’m used to,” the Doctor proclaimed, reverting to his natural nit-picking demeanor, but Tyvaa could see a smile hiding beneath the surface. 

“Well, I assume you aren’t going to be performing surgery at this party, so sleeve length is inconsequential,” quipped Tyvaa. “Are you ready for me to transfer you?”

“Go right ahead,” he answered. 

Tyvaa keyed in the command, and she left Sickbay just as the Doctor dematerialised. She kept her walk toward the holodeck brisk, hardly noticing the occasional holiday greeting offered to her from passing crewmen. She kept her rushed pace  up until she reached the door to Sandrine’s, and Tyvaa took a deep breath before pushing the door open and entering the building. 

“Tyvaa!” exclaimed Tom from his place at the pool table. “You made it!”

“Always the tone surprise, Paris,” she snarked back, before making a beeline for where the Doctor stood awkwardly by the bar. “You didn’t think I’d leave you all alone with this crowd, did you?” she murmured to him, smiling slightly. 

“I had hoped not,” he replied, and relaxed considerably as she stood by him.

Tyvaa took the Doctor’s hand in hers, and led him to the one end of the bar, closest to the wall and consequently, the door. It was quieter there than the cluster of party goers around the billiards tables and the dance floor. Tyvaa took a chair, and gestured for the Doctor to sit next to her. The bartender gave her a look, and she nodded to him. The bartender then reached under the bar, producing a tall glass bottle. He made a show of pouring her drink, and slid a tall glass of something blue down the bar to her. A sip proved it to Andorian ale, or at least an approximation that was damn close. Tyvaa looked up from her glass to see Tom giving her his most sincere smile, and Tyvaa nodded back at him approvingly. She mouthed,  _ Thank you _ , and Tom grinned. 

The Doctor took the seat with his back to the wall, and relaxed slightly. Tyvaa noticed his reaction, and she quipped, with a nervous smile, “This way, we can actually carry a conversation.”

“Perhaps next time I participate in ‘something Human,’ it won’t be at Sandrine’s,” the Doctor agreed. “I don’t think the atmosphere here suits me.”

Tyvaa smiled into her drink before taking a generous sip. “To each their own, Doctor. When Paris isn’t hosting parties here, it’s really quite nice.”

The Doctor blinked, and smiled slightly. “You’ve been here before, in a more casual setting?”

Tyvaa felt her antennae twitch, and she smiled too. “Maybe. I spend time in the holodecks, too. Everyone needs a way to relax.” 

_ Tyvaa zh’Quallath, you are a masochist and you know it. _

_ Is it so bad to want some company during a holiday about togetherness? _

Her inner voice didn’t have an answer to that.

“Perhaps… perhaps I could join you,” the Doctor said, looking at his hands for a moment. “It does get quite dull, seeing the same grey walls of Sickbay 24 hours a day.” He sounded wistful, and Tyvaa could see the faintest fidgeting take root in his hand. 

Hesitantly, Tyvaa laid her hand on his atop the bar, stilling the nervous movement with reassurance. “I’d like that,” she told him. “Thank you,” she added sheepishly. “I didn’t want to come to this party alone. Call me paranoid, but… I don’t think I’d enjoy this party as much without you here with me.”

The Doctor’s eyes widened. “That- I- Thank you, Lieutenant,” he stuttered. If he'd been programmed to blush, Tyvaa was certain he'd be as red as a Command track uniform. 

“I’ve told you before, Doc, it’s Tyvaa,” she insisted, “And besides, we’re off duty anyway, so you haven’t got an excuse to use my rank here.” It was probably the ale talking, or maybe brown eyes had always had this kind of effect on Tyvaa, but at this point in the evening, she didn’t want workplace formalities building any walls between them. 

“Tyvaa,” the Doctor amended, trying out the word as if tasting fine wine. With a hesitant smile, he added, “Merry Christmas, Tyvaa.”

“Merry Christmas, Doctor.”


End file.
